Blood culture cost in San Jose, CA
In San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA, 5 hospitals list a cash price for blood culture for bacteria: from $272.16 to $608.50, with a median of $405.75. The lowest listed price is at Kaiser Foundation Hospital - San Jose and 1 other hospital — $133.59 less than the median here. Across California, the median is $272.16 at 94 hospitals.
Cash prices at 5 facilities across 5 cities for code 87040, as an outpatient — the setting a self-pay patient normally buys. Collected Sep 23, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Mar 31, 2026 and Apr 1, 2026.
Where each hospital's price falls
Each dot is one hospital's cash price on a scale from the lowest to the highest in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA.
Hospitals, cheapest first
| Hospital | Cash price | List price | Insurers pay | Off list | File date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - San Jose lowest San Jose, CA · (408) 972-7000 CULTURE BACTERIAL BLOOD AEROBIC W/ID ISOLATES | $272.16 | $486.00 | $10.00–$30.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Santa Clara lowest Santa Clara, CA · (408) 236-6400 CULTURE BACTERIAL BLOOD AEROBIC W/ID ISOLATES | $272.16 | $486.00 | $10.00–$30.00 | 44% | — source file |
| El Camino Hospital Mountain View, CA · (650) 940-7000 HC CULT BLOOD | $405.75 | $1,623.00 | — | 75% | Apr 1, 2026 source file |
| Stanford Health Care Stanford, CA · (650) 723-4000 HC Blood Culture | $596.40 | $1,491.00 | — | 60% | Apr 1, 2026 source file |
| Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford Palo Alto, CA · (650) 497-8000 HC Isolator-Spec Reg | $608.50 | $1,217.00 | $591.34 | 50% | Mar 31, 2026 source file |
| Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford Palo Alto, CA · (650) 497-8000 HC Culture Blood Aerobic Isol | $654.00 | $1,308.00 | $635.56 | 50% | Mar 31, 2026 source file |
| Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford Palo Alto, CA · (650) 497-8000 HC Blood Culture ID Methods | $745.50 | $1,491.00 | $724.48 | 50% | Mar 31, 2026 source file |
Outpatient: lowest $272.16, median $405.75, highest $608.50 — a 2.2× difference within the same market.
As an inpatient, the same code is billed by 4 facilities here, median $338.96. Inpatient and outpatient prices are not comparable and are kept on separate pages: the inpatient charge covers admission, not the same purchase.
Cash or insurance?
At 0 of 3 hospitals that publish insurer rates for this code here, the cash price is below the highest rate a health plan has negotiated, and at none is it below every plan's rate. If you have insurance but have not met your deductible, you usually pay your plan's negotiated rate, which falls somewhere in the "Insurers pay" column. Paying cash can cost less, but a cash payment usually does not count toward your deductible. Ask the hospital for both numbers before you book.
What it is
A blood culture checks for bacteria or yeast in the blood. It is ordered for fever with signs of a serious infection, such as sepsis.
What the price covers
The price is usually for one culture set. The blood draw (36415) is often billed as a separate line.